New character model clues in Patch 5.2 NPCs?!

The good people over at Wowhead have been very busy datamining new models on the Patch 5.2 PTR, including some that could be indicators of the look of new character models!

Mounts and Pets

There are several new mounts shown, continuing the earlier dinosaur theme of the triceratops mounts, and a couple of flying mounts along with a new look armored tiger. All are shown below, do head over to Wowhead to have a look at the models in their full glory! There are additional mounts viewable on wowhead, including a “Trex” mount which is very similar to the raptor mounts available for Horde players.

Apart from the new mounts, there are also new pets, the cutest of which, the Zandalari Hatchling can be seen in the video above. They will likely be available as drops from battle pet battling, or as drops from the raid, or rewards from daily quests on the new daily quest hub on Thunder Isle. It seems likely to me that the four similar-looking dinosaur mounts are from dailies, while the others are drops. Along with the Zandalari Hatchling, there are also several porcupine pets, and rather fun little micro-sentries. These, again, likely come from either random drops in the new raid, or from dailies, or perhaps just roam wild around the area!

Humanoid Models

The really interesting news is twofold. The datamining of a new troll model, called the Jungle Troll, has set off the rumor mill as the community has thought that it’s possible these could be precursors to the new character models. You can see the Jungle Troll in motion in the video above, main observations are that it’s a lot heavier and more muscular looking than the existing models, and that it has far more detail on the hands and feel, not something the current models are renowned for. It’s not obvious, though, whether the troll models are able to blink or not! What do you think of the troll model? Would you like to see your troll character models looking more like that?

It should be noted of course that this model is datamined, and may not be final. What’s more, Blizzard Community Manager Vaneras commented on the EU forums that, while players may think that the new models are indicative of the look of character models, but it may not be the case. Now, they would say that, naturally, but take the speculation with a pinch of salt!

Lastly, there is also a captured titan, viewable in the video. This is certainly interesting from a lore perspective, with the heavy titan influence on the Mogu and the Thunder King. Is it possible that Ra-Den is a Titan construct captured by the Mogu and enslaved for their means? What do you think?